Love & Lifeguards
by HagarenKokoro
Summary: It's Ally's first time wearing a bikini, and Austin just happens to be the lifeguard on duty! There's sexual tension in the air, and to make matters worse, Ally goes for a swim and ALMOST DROWNS. Will Austin save her? Or will he be too busy fighting off fangirls? Lots of cutesy romance, a shirtless Austin Moon, and some *wink wink* skin-on-skin contact!
1. Chapter 1

{HEY, EVERYBODY! Just a quick reminder – I changed Ally's name to Laura because most people will trip over names that look too similar. This makes it a lot easier to read. Everything else is the same though, so I hope you enjoy the fanfic!}

Laura wrapped a towel around her body, slapped on a pair of sunglasses, and pulled her wide-brimmed hat over her face.

"I'm ready," she said.

Trish closed the car door and stepped onto the sand. She did a double-take at Laura's appereance. "What's all that for?"

Laura hugged her towel closer. "This is my first time wearing a bikini in my life. I'm kind of nervous."

Instead of wearing one of her usual crazy costumes, Trish was wearing a simple black bathing suit. She wasn't even wearing sunscreen, although Laura had applied about twenty layers.

"Don't be shy!" said Trish. "There's only about five hundred people here to see you."

Without another word, Trish took off confidently down the beach. She parked her towel near the lifeguard's chair and kicked off her flip-flops. Laura sat down on the sand near Trish and looked out at the choppy ocean waves.

"Aren't you going to tan?"

"No, thanks," said Laura. "I think I'll just sit here and admire the view."

"Oh, you mean the lifeguard? Yeah, he's pretty easy to look at. He must be new here; I haven't seen him before."

Laura's mouth fell open. "What? No! I meant the _ocean_ view, Trish!"

"Oops." Trish laughed and shaded her eyes against the sun. "But he is pretty handsome. Look, he's wearing some sort of necklace – do you think his girlfriend gave it to him?"

The lifeguard waded into the ocean to pull a struggling toddler out of the waves. He set the boy gently on the sand, and turned to glance back at the beach. Laura immediately grabbed the umbrella and popped it open to hide them.

"What are you doing?" protested Trish. "He was looking right at us!"

Laura could feel her heart pounding, and her palms begin to sweat. Why, oh why, did there have to be so many people at the beach that day?

She turned to Trish and said, under the shade of the umbrella, "I know. That was Austin."


	2. Chapter 2

Trish's eyes grew big as wheels, and she began to splutter. "Oh my gosh, but I just called him hot!"

"Actually, I think you said handsome – "

"It's the whole lifeguard thing!" Trish protested. "I just automatically think that lifeguards are cute!"

The umbrella they were hiding behind was suddenly lifted in the air. Austin looked down at them. "You think lifeguards are cute? See, I knew this job would make me a chick magnet."

Laura scrambled to her feet and pulled off the hat and sunglasses. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting tan and saving lives," said Austin, proudly. "What are you two doing?"

"The same," said Laura. "Without the saving lives part."

"Or the tanning part," grumbled Trish. "You can't get tan wearing your towel like that. Plus, that's _my_ towel." Without warning, she reached up and yanked the towel away, causing Laura to spin around like a top.

The spinning made Laura feel dizzy, and her feet slipped on the sand. Before she could fall, she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, and for one equally dizzying moment, she was pressed against Austin's bare chest.

The whistle necklace around Austin's neck swung back and forth, jingling softly. It was the necklace she'd given him for his birthday, and she was surprised to see him wearing it. She smiled up at him.

"Are you OK?" Austin asked.

She felt breathless, but maybe that was from the spinning. "Yes. Thank you, Austin."

He smiled back at her, and for a moment, everything felt like it was going to be all right. Then Laura remembered the fact that she was wearing nothing but a bikini, and their bare skin was touching, and OH GOSH she was wearing nothing but a bikini!

She sprang away from him and tried to cover herself with her hands, but there was too much skin to cover. She was wearing a bright yellow strapless bikini, and there were little beads on her bottoms that jangled whenever she moved her hips. It was much too revealing and eye-catching, and the beads were a particularly embarassing touch. Laura wanted to cover herself with the towel, but Trish was now sitting on it.

Austin had been looking at her face, but as soon as she tried to cover herself, he noticed the swimsuit. His eyes went up and down…and back down again. He raised his eyebrows.


	3. Chapter 3

There was a long silence, and Laura could feel her face growing redder and redder. She wished Austin would say something, but he seemed preoccupied.

Trish let out a cough. "I think someone's drowning."

Austin's eyes widened in alarm, and he spun around and splashed into the ocean. He did a perfect dive into the water. Several girls nearby giggled and started gossiping about "that new lifeguard."

"It's a good thing no one actually was drowning," said Trish. "Because I don't think he would have noticed."

Laura chewed her hair. "Aww, Trish, why'd you do that? Now he's going to spend forever looking for someone who's not there."

"Would you prefer to have him standing here looking forever at _you_?" Trish scoffed and picked up a magazine.

The girls nearby were still giggling, and one of them said, "What if I was out swimming and my bathing suit _accidentally_ fell off? Or maybe I should pretend to drown. Do you think he'd notice me then?"

"I wish his bathing suit would accidentally fall off," said one girl.

Trish dropped her magazine and barked, "Hey, that's my friend you're talking about! And his name is not "that cute lifeguard." His name is Austin Moon. Show some respect."

Laura thought it was funny that Trish was yelling at them for doing the exact same thing she'd been doing earlier. But Trish was just looking for an excuse to yell – it was her favorite thing to do.

The girls gasped, and cried, "Austin Moon? It's really him? Oh my gosh, let's get his autograph!"

"I don't have a pen!" said one girl.

"Or paper!"

"Who cares? He can sign our bodies with seaweed! Let's go, girls!"

All ten of the girls sprinted into the water and gathered around Austin, who'd just resurfaced and looked horrified to see so many girls coming toward him. Austin tried to escape to continue his search for the imaginary drowning person, but they crowded around him on all sides, screaming and giggling. They stroked his biceps and rubbed his hair.


	4. Chapter 4

Laura jammed her feet into her flip-flops and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Well, I'm leaving. See you later, Trish."

Trish protested, but Laura ignored her and stormed up the beach. She was almost to the car when the wind knocked her hat off and blew it into the ocean.

Laura stared at the hat with clenched fists, feeling like the whole world was against her that day. She considered leaving the hat, but it was brand new, and it had a cute pink ribbon and everything. With a huff of anger, she waded into the water. After a number of paces, she was so deep into the water that the edges of her hair were wet, and her bikini was completely soaked. Another step, and the water was up to her chin. Did she remember how to swim? She wasn't sure…those swimming classes had been so long ago.

She took another step, and her head went completely under. She expected to feel sand beneath her feet, but she couldn't feel anything when she kicked her legs. There was no ground below her, and no air above her – just water all around, pulsing and flooding into her open mouth. Her arms and legs thrashed, and she tried to pump herself to the surface. The surface was getting further and further away, and her vision went dark.

A pair of hands grasped her waist, and Laura knew who it was right away, having felt those same hands on her earlier. She recognized his touch even in the cold numbness of the water, and she stopped thrashing. Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw Austin in front of her, his expression calm as he wrapped his arms all the way around her waist and tugged her against him. His skin was warm and bronze, and the whistle around his neck glistened like a light.

They broke the surface, and Laura took in a mighty gasp of air. She let go of Austin's shoulders for a moment and immediately sunk back underwater, but Austin grabbed her and pulled her up again. He didn't let her go after that.

"What happened?" he asked. "Laura?"

Laura shook her hair out of her face. As soon as she had air in her lungs, she gasped, "My hat!"

He looked confused. "Your…what?" He turned and spotted it floating in the water, just a few feet away from them. "You risked your life for that?"


	5. Chapter 5

"You risked your life for me," she pointed out.

"First of all, it's my job. But I did it because you're worth it." He looked amused. "Saving a hat is not worth it."

"But it's right there!" Laura cried. The hat was drifting further out to ocean, and was now quite a great distance away from them. "Please, Austin! You can swim there and back in a jiffy."

"I'll buy you a new one," he said. He paddled them both towards shore. Laura thrashed and struggled to get out of his grip, but had to stop when her bathing suit started slipping.

When they reached shallow water, Austin scooped his arm under her legs and lifted her out of the water, cradled against his chest. Laura let out a squeak of alarm, and wrapped her hands around his neck.

"What are you doing? I don't need to be carried!"

"It's company policy," he said. "In case you have a spinal injury."

"But I don't have a spinal injury, Austin!"

"And since you swallowed a lot of water," he continued, "I'm technically supposed to give you mouth-to-mouth, but I think you'll be fine without it."

Laura blushed and didn't say anything. They walked past the group of girls from earlier, who were all dead silent and staring daggers in her direction. She buried her face into Austin's neck to hide from their stares.

They walked further up the sand, and Austin stopped and shifted her in his arms. "Are you all right?"

She said the words into his neck. "I'm…fine. I just feel a little whoozy."

He set her down on the sand as if she was a fragile piece of glass, gently and slowly. Though her head felt cloudy, Laura noticed his thoughtfulness and was grateful for it. Most of the time Austin was completely clueless, but this wasn't one of those times.

"You're a pretty good lifeguard," she smiled. "Have you done it a lot?"

Austin was standing very close to her, his arm brushing hers. And he was looking intently into her eyes, probably to make sure she was feeling all right. For whatever reason, it made Laura feel safe, and comforted.

Austin's voice was quiet as he spoke; his eyes dark and unreadable. "You know, Laura...I…"

There was a loud shriek, and someone started yelling about getting stung by a jellyfish. Austin's concentration broke, and he pulled away from her. Laura hadn't realized how close they had been standing until he pulled away.

"Sorry, Laura. I gotta go." He gave her one last lingering look before he took off down the beach. But this time he was looking at her eyes, not her bikini.


End file.
